Ghostly battles
by Pandagirl66
Summary: Kronos has some new recruits- ghosts! percy, Annabeth and Grover get sent off to recruit some mediators for themselves- including a certain Suze Simon
1. Mediators and Demigods

**Ha ha! another Mediator crossover! I'm just brilliant, huh? for those of you reading my other story, no worries, it shall continue to get regular updates. and ,hopefully, the chapter of this story won't have so much cliffhangerness. Oh, and if you want to suggest a crossover for me to do, them got to my page to see all the different books and stuff that I'll write stories on then pm me with your idea. enjoy! just so you know, this is like in the pre- war-with-the-titans era and the beginning of Haunted. **

**Disclaimer: me no ownee Percy and Suze**

Annabeth, Grover and I walked walked across camp grounds to the Big House. Chiron had sent for us, apparantly he had urgent news- sounded pretty scary, really. As we arrived, I opened the door nervously.

Chiron smiled," Oh, good, you're here."

None of us said anything, and he grew suddenly serious," I need to talk to you, I've herd some important news.

"What kind of news?" Annabeth questioned immeadiatly. I wasn't so sure I wanted to know.

"Kronos has recruited a new force," Chiron's voice was grave," He now has a large suppy of ghosts in his control." Okay, that had not been what I was expecting- at all.

"Hold on- ghosts? Since when do _ghosts_ exist?"

"Ghosts have always existed, but they are invisible to anyone without the gift."

"Gift?"

"Certain, rare people are born with the ability to see and speak to ghosts."

I had to admire his patience. I mean, it's not like I was exatly helping with any of this. But, hey, I was in shock. I hadn't really thought that there would be much that could suprise me, after the whole existance-of- all-things-mythological and all, but, still......ghosts.

"So, what are we going to do about it?" Annabeth asked. She was acting like the whole thing hadn't even phase her. She had a point, though.

Chiron had a good point, too," We need to contact someone with the gift to help us. We have no chance against them if we can't even see them."

"So, basically, we're gonna go hunt down people that talk to ghosts and convince them we need their help to defeat an evil army?," Easier said than done, for sure," Whoever we contact is going to think we're insane!"

"I have already found them, it will be your jobs to get them here." Chiron smiled," If it helps, people with this gift are immune to the Mist."

Annabeth grinned," Great, let's go."

* * *

I hopped out of Brad's car, slamming the door so hard the whole vehicle shook. After finding out yesterday that I would be seeing Paul Slater at school, the thought of actualy having to go there every day had become practically unbearable. I was planning on doing everything possible to avoid him, but I kinda doubted that that plan was going to work so well- I was right.

So, when a novice told me I was needed in father Dom's office, I couldn't have been more relieved. I figured this was gonna be another moral lecture, but I rally didn't care. Apparantly Father Dominic had other plans, becuase as soon as I walked in the door i noticed three other kids sitting in the corner of his office. They looked a little younger than me, and I was sure i had never seen them around here.

"Hey, Father Dominic, you need me?" I didn't take my eyes of the mystery kids the whole time I was talking.

"Yes, Susannah, we need to speak to you."

I didn't miss the _we _in that sentence," So, who's your friends?"

"Oh, this is Percy, Annabeth, and Grover."

The girl, Annabeth, smiled at me," Hi Susannah."

"Um, hi, call me Suze."

"These three have something very important to tell you."

Wow, Father Dom sounded really serious. I took a closer look at them. They didn't _seem_ to have something very important to say- but looks could be decieving, I knew that much. So, I just shrugged.

"Okay, shoot."

"Well, we sorta need your help with something."

"My help? With what?"

One of the two boys, Percy, started explaining," Well, it's a long story..."

* * *

The three of them took turns expaing for the next hour. By the time they were done, I had missed 's class- not that I minded at all. All I could do was stare at them.

"Wow."

Oh, real clever, Suze. But what else could I say? One look at these guys told me they were dead serious, and I was in shock, a little. I'm proud say I actually snapped out of it pretty quickly.

I jumped up," Sure, I'll come help."

They stared at me," Seriously?" Annabeth finally asked.

"Well, yeah," I frowned," Did you guys think I wouldn't come?"

"We didn't think it was actually going to be that easy."

Oh. I guess that made sense. I shrugged," We still have the dillema of what to tell my family."

"I can take care of that," father Dominic said quickly," Go ahead back to class, we can discuss this at lunch."

I grinned- good 'ole Father Dom. "Okay, see you guys then."

* * *

Annabeth, Grover and I stared after Suze. Out of the five people we'd gathered, she was the only one that had accepted this mission without question. It was quite a nice change, really.

I turned toward the priest," So, how long until lunch?"

"Oh, about another two hours."

"Looks like we have some time to kill," Annabeth said.

Grover smiled suddenly," Well, it's about time, isn't it?"

I stood up," I think some sightseeing would be nice."

So we spent the next couple hours enjoying ourselves- Grove had been right, after going on a cross-country mission to convince five different mediators to help defeat Kronos, a break was welcome- and nowhere better for a break than the beach.

The time passed to quickly, and we ended up rushing back to the school, pretty desperate to get there in time. but, as we flew down the hall toward the office, a voice called out sharply. "You, children! There is _no_ running in the halls! and where are your hall passes?"

We all stopped short, turning to spin in the direction of the voice. There stood a very scary-looking nun. Seriously, I'd fought the furies tthemselves, but one look at this woman and I was practically shaking.

She stalked angrily up to us,"Didn't you hear me? And what- you are all three wearing _denim_! You know that is strictly against the dress code!"

What was she talking about? This school had a rule against jeans? That shoud be illegal or something, if you ask me.

"Uh- we, um, we don't actually go here, ma'am, we didn't actually know the dress code and stuff." I mumbled.

The nun frowned and eyed us sharply," Don't go here? Then what are you doing here? You need to be in school!"

Okay, time to think fast,"We- we're doing this, er, project on private school education versus public school education."

"Nice thinking." Grover whispered. I just hoped the nun bought it- to much to hope for, apparantly.

"What, with no papers or _anything_? I don't think so! Now, let's go!"

Now what where we going to do? "See, we-"

"They're with me, Sister Ernistine." the voice came from behind us.

Grover, Annabeth and I spun around at the same time. Suze was standing behing us with her hands on her hips.

The nun, Sister Ernistine, glared at Suze," and what exactly do you mean, with you?"

"They're friends of mine, I'm taking them to talk to father Dominic."

"What could Father Dominic possily want with these children?"

"I don't suppose that's any of _your_ business, is it?"

She walked toward the office, motioning for us to follow. I hurried to catch up, leaving a rather shocked looking Sister Ernistine behind.

"Impressive," Grover mumbled.

Suze grinned," Don't worry, the whole _school_ hates that woman."

She held open the door to the office," Let's go."

* * *

I was seriously hungry. Our planning had lasted all the way through lunch, and I would eat about anything at this point.

But I really didn't have time to worry about my stomache, there were bbigger matters to think about. It had been decided that i would sit through the rest of the school day as usual, then go home, where Father Dom would call my mom and mention some big state-sponsered school trip or whatever. I'd pack, then we'd leave the next morning.

I fidgeted at the thought. How was I supposed to wait that long? How was i supposed to lay and sleep, with everything I'd learned? I didn't spend the least bit of attention to class the rest of the day, I only thought about the trip- what to bring, what to expect, what to say, there was plenty to wonder about.

Finally, home. Now I could at least do something constructive- wait a second, Suze Simon wanting to do something constructive? Major wierd.

I hurried up to my room, pulled out my suitecase, and started on the challenge of what to take. After half an hour of _that_, my head was actually spinning and I decided it was a good idea to sit down for a sec.

So I perched myself on the end of my bed, taking deap breathes and concentrating on staying calm. Wow, getting ready to go fight an epic war against ghosts and monsters can get you so worked up- who knew?

"Susannah, what are you doing?"

I was suprsised, to say the least. Jesse had been avoiding me lately. I guess he just had to choose now to show up, huh? Figures.

I hopped up and went back to packing," Oh, I'm going on a trip,Mediator thing."

Jesse raised an eyebrow, the one with the scar," Care to elaborate?"

I didn't really know what to tell him. It seemed pointless to lie, but I couldn't really just tell him everything I'd learned in the past day, could I?

I took a breathe," No, not really, it's rather...complicated."

"Complicated? You mean, dangerous?"

"Well, that's not what I meant, but, yes, potentially very dangerous."

I could've sworn he looked worried," Querida, please explain."

"You-you wouldn't believe any of, trust me."

"Do _you_ believe it?"

"Well, yeah."

Jesse nodded," Then, I will."

Well, he seemed pretty set on this. i wasn;t gonn be able to avoid it. So, I sat back down on my bed and started talking. This was gonna be a long night.

* * *

There was a short silence after I finished my story.

"And you are sure that it is all true?"

"Totally."

"And you may be gone for weeks, preparing for this war."

"Um, yep."

"I suppose that settles it."

I frowned," Settles what?"

"I'm coming, too."

He disappeared before I had a chance to comment, and I stared momentarily at the spot on my windowseat where he'd been sitting. The I shrugged- back to work.

**So, what do we think? Is it super great? very terrible? I wanna know!!! I await your reviews, oh loyal readers....**


	2. New Girl

**Here ya go. Sorry if it kinda took awhile, but I for some reason I was feeling kinda depressed, so I was scared that if I let myself go with the writing, you'd be reading about the sudden deaths of Suze, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, as well as the triumph of the Titans, so...yeah. Oh, btw, I was looking at my chapstick, an there was a warning that said "Keep out of reach of children eight and younger" what, seven-year-olds don't get chapped lips too?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own these books**

**Claimer: I DO own my cookie...but I ate it. So I guess I'm back to owning nothing.**

I was practically bouncing in my seat- no, I _was_ bouncing in my seat, and it was getting me quite a few odd looks. Really, I couldn't care less. There was only ten minutes left, then I'd be out of here and on my way to the biggest adventure ever.

You might think that it was sort of wierd that I'd be so exited about this when there was a fairly good chance I was headed toward certain death, but I had been in deadly situations before, and this was all so amazing. Plus, Annabeth had mention that there were four other mediators already there- Nicki, Jesslyn, Erin and Kiley.

Class ended, and I all but ran out of the room. _Pace yourself_, I thought. My feet slowed, but I fel like I was going to blow up-forget pacing myself. I rushed to Father Dom's office, where I knew Percy, Grover and Annabeth woud b waiting. I flew through the door.

"Hey, guys! Ready?"

Everyone jumped at my sudden appearance, but recovered pretty quickly.

Annabeth grinned,"Someone's exited."

"Well, duh," I turned to Father Dominic," Ready?"

"Yes, I believe I am." He stood up slowly, and I rushed out the door.

"Well, come on." Eventually, we all made it out to Father Dominic's car. See, at first, i had been all for just taking a plane, but i'd abandoned the idea quickly when Percy explained that he couldn't ride in them. So, the new plan was for Father Dom to drive us to the point where we could get public transportation the rest of the way, and we'd go from there. I knew he wasn't very comfortable with leaving it up to us, but he couldn't drive us all the way to Long Island and he knew it.

We talked casually through the fibe and a half hours. I'm not kidding, we were in the car for that long. Father Dominic had insisted to take us at least all the way to Reno, Nevada, considering we would basically be crossing all the way across the US. It was a very tedious drive, made all th more so by the fact that id never been more exited about going somewhere in my life- wait, no, scratch that. The one place I was most exited to go to in my life was Disney World. But this was a close second, for sure.

Finally we were there. I jumped out of the car as soon as he put on the brakes, stopping to wait for the others and listen to the usual "be careful" and "don't hit people" warnings from Father Dom.

Finally, though, we stood alone on the sidewalk. It was a fairly busy street, and people bustled past us as we contemplated our next move, which ended up being pretty simple- get moving toward our next destination. We hailed a taxi, using some money that my Mom had given me for the "school trip". I stared out the window as we rode along. My greatest adventure ever had started.

* * *

We went along like that for days, catching cabs, buses and trains, grabbing sleep whenever and where ever we could- I thought it was great. I hadn't seen Jesse at all, which was a litttle wierd, since he seemed so determined when he said he was , whatever, I didn't care or anything. Yeah, right.

_Finally_, we were through New York and on the final stretch, a ferry to Long island. Going through New York had gotten me a ittle nervous, beacuse there was a always a small chance of someone recognizing me- which would definetly be bad.

So, in the end, here I sat, waiting. I tell you, when you're toward one of the most exiting things that could possible happen, moving along at snail pace on one of these things is totally not good for the nerves. At all.

It took about all of eternity, but we were finally back on land. I followed Percy, Annabeth and Grover. Geeze, my feet werestarting to hurt. I really wasn't cut out for all the walking we'd been doing. Breaking and entering? Easy. Hand-to-hand combat with the undead? No problem. Hiking? No way.

So,I was totally relieved whenIgot tothe top of a hill and looked down to seewhat I wasguess wasour destination.

Annabeth grinned," WelcometoCamp Half-Blood."

I grinned back," This is cool."

And it was _definetly_ cool. Like, the coolest thing I'd ever seen- which is really saying something when your me. But I was still tired.

"So, I'd really love to look around and all, but right now my feet are seriously killing me, so can you guys just show me where I'm staying?"

Annabeth looked kinda disapointed," Sure, I guess. We set up a cabin."

Percy started walking toward the camp," This way."

"I'll, um, just go tell Chiron we're back." Grover said, going off in another direction.

As we went through camp, Percy and Annabeth pointed out and explained several different things. It was interesting enough that I actually managed to pay attention.

Then we were staning in front of a large ring of intricate cabins. My eyes widened.

"There's a cabin for each God ad Goddess," Percy explained," The Hephaestus cabin built one a Mediator cabin for you guys."

Sure enough, a white cabin stood off to the side from the rest. I was kinda impressed that they'd managed to throw together a whole cabin for us and all. But I'm pretty sure Hephaestus was, like, the god of building stuff, so that sorta made sense.

I suddenly started to feel a little nervous," So, are the other Mediators in there?"

"They should be."

I nodded and hesitantly opened the door to the cabin.

"Hi! Are you Suze?" A tall girl with long brown hair was standing in the doorway.

"Yeah,who are you?"

"I'm Nicole, but call me Nicki. We've been waiting for you to get here."

"Nicki can introduce you to everyone, we're gonna go." Annabeth said from behind me. I nodded. Nicki and I walked to the back of the cabin, where six bunk beds were sitting. A pale girl with short, blonde hair sat on one of the top ones, eyeing me.

"This the new girl?"

I had a few problems with her tone, but held my tounge. I was kind of hoping wouldn't make enemies with any of these girls, since 'd be fighting with them and all.

Nicki glared at her," Yeah, she is. Got a problem with it?"

"I'm fine as long as she stays out of _my_ way."

Okay, forget making friends. I put my hands on my hips, but Nicki shook her head.

"Don't bother," she whispered," She's not even worth it."

I sighed, but nodded.

"Okay, she's Jesslyn," Nicki continued, poitning to the bitchy blonde girl," And Kiley, and this is Erin- we've known each other since, like, third grade."

She gestured toward a shy-looking girl sitting cross-legged on a bottom bunk, then to the girl sitting next to her. I studied Kiley closer. She looked young, probably youger than me, with olive-toned skin and shoulder length curly brown hair.

Erin looked about my age, but she was short, with raven black hair and a tan. She was staring at the window with a bored expression.

Nicki kept talking, telling me which bunk was whose. Aparantly, I was getting the only one left, the one under Erin. Oh, well, it could be worse- like getting the one under Jesslyn, for example. Luckily for me, that one was occupied by five backpacks, and a couple duffle bags. I guess no else wanted to share a bunk with her either- can't say I blame 'em.

I sat down uncertainly on mine. "So, Kiley, how old are you?"

She smiled shyly," Me? fifteen."

I was right, she was younger than me.

"What about you?" she asked," Oh, and where are you from?"

"I'm sixteen, and I'm from California."

It went on like that for about an hour, discussing how old we were, where home was, and each person's individual story of how they got here.

I found out that Erin was seventeen,and Nicki was sixteen. They were both from Tennesse, and Kiley was from Minnesota. Jesslyn didn't participate much in the conversation- no suprise there- but I did find out that she was nineteen and from New Jersey. The two huge duffel bags were both hers- apparantly, she had refused to come unless she could bring them.

I leaned back on my bunk bed, smiling. I had a feeling this might actually be sort of fun.


	3. Hellhound!

**I want to thank jediahsokaroxx for reviewing to both of the first chapters- your support is much appreciated! Without further ado (ado is so fun to say), I give you chapter three.**

I was a lot less tired as we headed through the camp for dinner, and I stared at everything we passed- this was so cool. As we walked, Nicki kept talking, explaining various things about how stuff worked here. Man, she could talk. I didn't rally mind, though- everything she talked about was actually really interesting, or at least something I needed to know.

We finally made it to the tables. Jesslyn, who'd stayed silent during the walk, only aknowledging my existense with the occasional glare, disconnected herself immediatly from our group and started walking toward a table with only one kid, Percy. This didn't suprise me, Nicki had explained that Percy was the only one here that was a kid of Posedion and all.

"Oh, Hi, Percy!" Jesslyn squealed," How are you? You must be _so_ tired, after having to go all the way to California!"

I rolled my eyes. Percy gritted his teeth," It's not really a big deal, Jesslyn."

"Not a big deal? I couldn't even _imagine_ gong that far without riding a plane."

I swear, Percy looked like he was in pain. I noticed Annabeth shoot Jesslyn a quick death glare, but she either ignored it, or was totally oblivious. Luckily, Chiron-who, may I point out, was a centaur, and looked totally cool- came up at that point, and she had to go sit at the Mediator table with the rest of us.

We went through the ceremony of giving the Gods and Godesses an offering and stuff.. The rest of the meal went pretty uneventfully, with Erin, Nicki, and Kiley chatting while Jesslyn occasionally jumped in with a snide comment. I spent the last few minutes with my hands curled into fists,, using all my willpower not to punch her. It was _not_ easy, I will tell you.

The campfire part was- you guess it- cool. But I was getting tired again, and I was totally relieved when we got back to the cabin. I was exausted- for me, though, that was kind of a regular thing. You know, with al that nightly breaking and entering. The last thought that crossed my mind was that Jesse still hadn't bothered to show up, despite how set he'd seemed on the idea back in Carmel.

* * *

When I was woken up the next morning, it took me a second to figure out exactly where I was, but, as soon as I remembered, I was wide awake. Which didn't happen very often with me. The wide awake part, I mean. I sat up quickly, accidently banging my head on the bunk above me. Ow.

"So, what are we doing?"

"Well, we go to breakfast, then have the cabin inspection." Nicki said.

"Cabin inspection?"

"Yeah, for cleanness and stuff," she tossed something at me," Put it on."

I took a closer look. It was an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, and a pair of jeans that looked like my size. Sweet.

* * *

I was exausted. Totally exausted. We'd started out having swordfighting class with a girl named Clarisse,who, I might add, did not exactly have a sunny disposition, then we worked on archery, learned how to ride flying horses, which was _amazing_,went to soe class about monsters,and climbed a very intimidating rock wall. Geeze, a lot for my first full day at Camp Half-Blood. It was free time now, and I was laying on my bunk.

"Get up."

I propped myself up on my elbows," Huh?"

Erin was standing in front of me," Come on, I need to show you around."

"Ugh, why?"

"You need to get familiar with the grounds- that way, if we're attacked, you know where your going."

I hated logic," Okay, I'm coming."

I heard Nicki's voice ,"Oh, are you gonna show her around?"

"Yep."

"I'll come!" There was a loud thump as she jumped down from her bunk.

I got up and rolled off the bed in time to see her slipping a hunting knife into the pocket of her jeans.

She shrugged in response to the look I gave her," Gotta be prepared."

"You guys coming or what?" Erin called form the doorway. We hurried after her.

* * *

We walked through the woods on the outer edge of Camp Half-Blood. It'd been an interesting trip. I had never exactly been the nature type, but I still had to admit that it was all very pretty.

I had also learned a few things about Erin. In the past couple days I'd been here, she'd practically been a statue. But now, out here, she was a totally different person. Looser, happier, and seriously agile. I'm not kidding, she climbed trees, jumped logs, and everything else.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound behind us. We all spun around, and I saw Nicki pulling out that knife from earlier. I'm pretty glad she did, because, about two seconds later, the biggest freaking dog _ever_ came crashing through the trees.

"Hellhound! It got through the border!"

The hellhound growled viciously and lunged straight at Erin. Nimbler than a ballerina, she dodged it and swung herself into a tree. It swung to face- me. Lovely. Thinking fast, I snatched up a large stick and swung, just barely missing it. It growled again and took my stick in it's teeth, rippig it out of my hands.

I let my years of fighting kick in, neatly avoiding the hellhound lunging at my head and landed a roundhouse kick directly in its chest. Bad move. The kick didn't even phase the hellhound, but it knocked me right off my feet.

Before I could even consider what to do next, a familiar-looking knife came flying through the air, sinking into the hellhound's hind leg. Then, Erin jumped down from the tree she'd been in and landed squarely on the hellhound's back.

"Good aim!" Erin yelled to Nicki.

She grinned," Back at ya!"

I slipped around the hellhound, glad they had it under control. I wasn't quite up to fighting monsters yet- I'd only been working on this stuff for a day, after all.

The hellhound continued flailing around, and he twisted suddenly, knocking Erin right off his back. She flew straight into a tree, hitting it with a sickening crunch. I gasped, and Nicki came running toward her friend, leaving me with the hellhound. Joy.

I circled aqround behind the beast and jerked the knife out of it's leg. It yelped and spun to face me, but it going on three legs. I swung at it with the knife, managing to slice it's shoulder. Not particulary effective, but I was working on it.

It came at me, all teeth. I dodged the head several times ad managed to get in a few scratches with the knife before I was knocked off my feet my a huge paw. The knife slid out of my hand- damn. What now? I was cornered.

I closed my eyes, but opened them again when, instead of feeling teeth, I heard the hellhound screechind in agony. I looked warily at it. It had it's head stuck in the air, howling like crazy- and no wonder, Nicki's knife was was stuck deep in it;s upper back. I peered around the monster, expecting to see Nicki behind it. My jaw dropped when I saw who was actually standing there- Jesse. Whoa.

**Ooh, little bit of a cliffie. Muwahaha. Sorry for any OOCness during the fighting, the whole thing was written while I listened to loud rock music, lol. Ever heard the song **_**Sound of madness**_** by Shinedown? Very good song. anyway, REVIEW!**


	4. What now?

**I'm sorry it tooka hundred years, I truly am. Just so you know, Very important A/N at the bottom.**

"Querida, are you alright?"

I was in shock. I know, sorta pathetic, but the last thing I had expeted was for Jesse to show up. I mean, I hadn't seen him since this whole thing had started. I finally got myself to speak.

"Uh, when did you get here?"

"I have been here since you arrived, and you did not answer my question."

"Oh, I'm fine- but Erin! She banged her head, like, seriously hard."

Jesse nodded," Her friend is with her. Others are on their way."

I raised my eyebrows," Others?"

"They heard the fight."

Well, it han't exactly been quiet, that was true. No sooner had he said that then a heard voices and loud footsteps, not too far away.

A small group of demigods came up, led by Percy, Annabeth and Jesslyn. I held back a groan. I so did _not_ want to deal with her right now, and I seriously doubted she would decide to shut her mouth for once.

"Hey." Percy was first to speak," Are you guys okay? Where are the others? What happened?"

"Um, I'm fine, I'm pretty sure Nicki is,too, but Erin hit her head. They're back there," I pointed behind me, to where I'd last seen the two of them," and we were attacked by some hellhound. Not fun."

There was several suprised gasps from the others. Jesslyn rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please. It's totally unfair that _you_ got to fight it."

"You think you could do better?"

"I could've taken two hellhounds on by myself and done better than you three!" She scoffed.

Well, someone had an attitude. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to make a biting comeback because. at that moment, she noticed Jesse, who was still standing under a tree a few feet from me.

"Oh, who is he?" I so did not like her tone.

Apparantly, Jesse didn't either. He turned to me," Susannah, is this a friend of yours?"

I snorted," Hardly. That's Jesslyn, fellow mediator and queen of the snobs."

Jesslyn glared daggers at me," Don't you think you're overeggagerating just a bit?" He tone was sugar sweet.

"Uh, _no_."

She didn't just look mad now, she looked murderous. She grabbed my arm and pulled around the other side of the tree. Her voice took on a harsh whisper.

"Listen here- maybe you think I've been unpleasant so far, but I can get a whole lot worse pretty damn fast."

"You think I'm scared of you?"

"I think you'd better be."

"Yeah, well think again-' cause there's no way I'm intimidated by _you_."

"Fine, but you'll regret it."

I opened my mouth to respond when we were interrupted.

"Uh, hey, guys? We need to take Erin back to camp." Percy voice called out uncertainly towards us.

My mouth snapped shut, and I felt a small wave of guilt. With what had been going on, I'd completely forgoteen about Erin, she definetly needed medical help- the sooner the better.

"I'm coming!" I called back.

I quickly yanked my arm out of Jesslyn's grip, shot her a dirty look, and hurried after the others, taking a spot next to Nicki, who was walking beside the huge guys from the Ares cabin who were carrying Erin.

"How's she doing?"

"Still out cold." Nicki responded without taking her eyes off her best friend.

"I'm sure she'll be okay."

Nicki just nodded absently. Then, she turned to me and grinned.

"So, what did Jesslyn have to say?"

I groaned,"Don't get me started, I can't _stand_ that girl."

"Join the club. Who was the ghost with you?"

The question suprised me, for some reason. I guess I was still used to being the oly one who could see him.

"Oh, Jesse? He's from back in Carmel, died in the house tht my family lives in now."

I purposely left out the part about him hanging out in my room and all.

She nodded," You like him?"

"What?!"

"You heard me."

I wasn't sure how to answer. I didn't have to, though, because, at that exact moment, the camp came into view. In a split second, Nicki's attention went from me to getting help. Whew, great timing.

I watched as she ran down with the others toward the Big House. I broke off, headed toward the Mediator cabin. Don't get me wrong, I was worried about Erin and all, but I was also tired. Like, completely exhausted.

So, I tramped to the Mediator cabin and flopped down rather ungracefully on my bunk. My head was spinning. This was a lot to take in even for me. I mean, Erin's severely injured. Jesse has randomly shown up just in time to save my life _again_, and Jesslyn's being even screwier than usual.

Jesse appeared and sat dow on the bunk across from me.

"Hello, Susannah."

"Hey. Any word on Erin?"

He shook his head," Her frend Nicole seems quite upset."

"Nicole? you mean Nicki?"

Jesse frowned,"Nicki is a ridiculous nickname. Nicole sounds much better."

I smirked and rolled my eyes. I'd been here two days and hadn't known that Nicki was a nickname, but Jesse had weasled her full name out of her in a few minutes. Typical.

"So, you've been here since I got here?"

He nodded," I did not plan on making my presence known until it was nessesary."

"Okay. Thanks, by the way."

"Of course."

I didn't really know what to say after that. Finally I asked," So, find any really old, boring books to go through?"

He chuckled,"Not yet. Perhaps I should go look for some."

"Yeah, and let me know if anhthing changes. I have no energy left."

I fell asleep seconds after Jesse disappeared, and slept pretty heavily. Until I was rudely awoken my a certain bratty mediator shoving me off my bunk.

"Get up, dinner."

I stood up rubbing my head. The bunk wasn't all that far off the ground, but that hadn't exactly made faling of off it pleasant. I scowled at Jesslyn ans seriously considered slugging her, but decided it wasn't worth it. Instead, I turned and stalked out of the cabin as quickly as I could.

It was obvious from the moment I sat down that this was not going to be a fun-filled. Nicki was sullen and silent, quite the opposite of her usual cheery disposition. Jesslyn was, no suprise, glaring at me even more venomously that usual. Oh, well. She can go fall of a freaking cliff.

Kiley was the only one acting like herself, which wasn't exactly comforting, considering that consisted of staring shyly at her food without acknowledging anyone else anymore than she had to. She leaned forward, letting her unruly dark hair fall over her shoulder, refusing to even glance at me. Talk about anti-social.

Betwen the three of us, not a word was spoken the whole time. Though Jesslyn made a pont of gtting up to go talk to Percy when it was all over and everyone was headed to sit at the campfire. Nicki, however, backed away. I glanced at her.

"Going to check on Erin?"

"Yeah."

"Mind if I come?"

She grinned,"I'd be insulted if you didn't."

The grin vanished almost immediatly. I frowned as I followed her to the Big House. Having her best friend in a bad state was really putting a strain on the girl.

We stepped quickly inside to where Erin was laying, unconsious. Danm, she didnt look good. Nicki and I bent down next to her. Chiron was there, instead of out with the others.

"How's she doing?" I asked. Nicki didn't look like she could talk if she wanted to.

"She's holding out pretty well. It really isn't that the damage is severe so much as that no one really knows what to do about it."

I raised an eyebrow,"What, you guys never get injuries around here?"

"When demigods get injured, we just need to feed them ambrosia."

"am-what?"

"Special, healing stuff. I can explain later. Anyway, regular humans are uable to eat it, and we believe mediators are proably the same."

"Ah, I see. and we don't exactly want Erin as the test subject for that theory."

Chiron nodded grimly, and it was silent for a moment, until he continued.

"You know, you two should be with the others at the camfire."

"I don't see you out there."

"That's different."

I didn't see the point in taking the arguement any farther. Instead, I shrugged,"Bite me."

We lapsed into silence once more, this time for quite some time. Eventually Chiron had to leave, telling us we needed to get to bed. Trust me, there was nothing that sounded better.

But even I didn't have the heart to leave Nicki here, watching her possibly dying friend. It wasn't till she drifted off, curled up on the rather uncomfortable floor, that I decided I could go back to the cabin and get some rest.

**OKay, I have officialy started my very first poll. Wah-oo for me! Say, why don't you lovely readers go vote on that poll? That would just make me ever so happy. Okay, cutting the nice girl act- review and/or vote, or learn to seep with one eye open. Your choice.**

**Quote of the moment:**

"Eagles soar, but weasels don't get sucked into airplane engines."


	5. House o' Monsters

**Alright, sorry it took a little while. I, er, had some issues with this chapter. enjoy. Oh, and I happened to notice a problem with the beginning of my story. technically, Percy and Annabeth should have known about ghosts cause of Nico, whom I have neglected to add until this point. So, can we just pretend that those ghosts that Nico conversed with in previous books were invisible and stuff? thanks.**

I gulped down a drink of water and flopped exhaustedly onto the dusty ground. This swordfighting was tough stuff, and this Clarise girl was good. She also happened to be annoying, rude, and the only camper yet to make friends with Jesslyn. Why am I not suprised?

"Hey, you, get up. We aren't done yet."

I groaned, but stood back up, facing Clarisse and brandished the sword that had been laying next to me.

"No, no. You, fight her." Clarrise pointed from me to Jesslyn. Oh, great.

Jesslyn lunged at me immediatly, thrusting her sword directly at my head. little to directly, if you ask me. I ducked and then swung the sword at her, purposely missing at the last second. The whole thing had been kinda hard at first, but once I got used to it-which took about all of two hours- the sword was just an extention to my arm, adding to the damage I could do. Pretty easy, actually.

Unfortunatly, Jesslyn had adapted rather easily to it as well. We continued to battle it out, both tiring but neither giving in. Eventually, I felt like I was about to drop. Just as I was cnsidering doing the unthinkable, surrenduring, I was saved.

One of the younger demigods came running out of the woods.

"Everybody! We're under attack! There's monsters here!" He looked seriously scared. Terrified, in fact.

When everyone realized what he was saying, they dropped what they were doing- even us, though Jesslyn looked quite ticked at not getting to finish our little battle. Oh, well. She'll jst have to deal with it.

A mass panic had started up, as the younger kids ran frantically around while the more experienced campers tried to calm them down and get ready for battle at the same time.

Finally, Chiron and Dionysus had to come out and calm all the campers down. Or, in Dionysus's case, yell threatening things at them untill they shut up. Not the most effective tactic,I must say.

When they were quiet, or as close to quiet as they were going to get, Chiron turned to the kid that had started the whole thing. He still looked utterly terrified.

"Now, can you tell us anything about the mosters you saw?"

The boy looked at his feet," Not- not much. but there was lots, and different kinds.I saw a bunch of really scary snake-people, and these wierd thing with faces that look like dogs."

I heard a familiar voice behind me mutter,"Oh, great. Dracaenae and Telekhines."

I turned my head and saw Percy standing just a couple feet behind us mediators, Annabeth next to him. Jesslyn ws eyeing percy, and I could tell he was purposely ignoring her. Good for him.

Chiron started talking, and I quickly returned my attention to him and the boy.

"Alright, thank you. You can go now," the boy nodded his thanks and ran of quickly, while Chiron continued, his voice much louder and his face grave,"Come on, everyody- prepare yourselves to fight! We must protect our camp."

Immediatly, there was a lot of running and shouting. The heads of the different cabins struggled to restore some order to the place. Annabeth rushed away from us to discuss battle strategies and whatnot with her cabin. The Ares cabin was quite busy, pulling out weapons , donning armor and organizing themselves- quite gleefully, I might add.

Beside me, Jesslyn snorted," Oh, please. This is gonna be so easy. I've been waiting for this."

I glared at her,"Waiting for it?"

"This will finally porve that I'ma much more competent fighter than you and your...friends."

I notcied Nicki stiffen in front of me. She swirved around to face Jesslyn," This is no _joke_, got it? his isn't some floofy contest to prove that you're so much better than one gives a damn if you can throw a ounch harder than is _real_. People could die!"

Jesslyn regarded her coolly," Well, you would be one to talk, considering that one friend of yours-what was her name?- let one measly monster overpower her. Pathetic."

I knew the second those words were out of her mouth that this would not end well. Of course, I just had to be right.

Almost immediatly, Jesslyn was sprawled out on the ground, blood running freely from her nose, with Nicki looming over her.

Jesslyn appeared quite shock,"You little-"

before she had a chance to say more, or even start to get up for that matter, Nicki tackled her. They tumbled around on the ground for a good four or five minutes, untill several campers- including, like, half the Ares cabin- and Chiro dragged them apart.

Catching sight of them, still struggling against their restrainers, I had to bite back a giggle. Nici looked failry bad- busted lip, a bruise forming on her cheek, and what looked like fingernail scratches going down her arm- but Jesslyn looked _much_ worse.

Her nose, which had already been pretty bloody, was now most defiently broken, one sleeve of her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt was ripped off, and there were numerous cuts and scratches all over her face, neck, and arms. As I watched her, she turned to glare at me and spat out a tooth. Oh, scary.

Chiron stood in between the two, giving some stern lecture about how we didn't have the time or resources to fight among ourselves, and all that great stuff. Listening to him, it seemed to dawn on everyone that we still had abattle to fight. So, without further ado, Nicki and Jesslyn were informed that there would be time for speeches and punishments later, and we all hurried off to meet the invasion.

Wow. That was the only coherent thought I could form as I stared at the army hurtling toward us. It was _huge_. There were all kinds of freaky looking mosters, including- at first glance- at least a dozen hellhounds, probaby a hundred of those lizard things, and at least a couple hundred of other various creatures that I didn't even want to think about.

Even the toughest demigods- like Percy, Annabeth, Clarrise, and Buckendorf, the head of Hephastus cabin- looked pretty intimidated. And was just what _they_ could see. yes-there were ghosts. A whole freaking ton of 'em, too. Well, probably fifty, but there were only four of us mediators, two of which were already fairly beaten up. this was _not_ going to be fun.

The ghosts looked human, from what I could tell, but most fo them had swords. Yes, swords. if course, those swords couldn't hurt any of the campers, but they could certainly hurt us. this was just looking better and better.

"I can help with the ghosts." an unfamiliar voice spoke from behind me. I whired around to face a dark haired boy who'd slipped up silenty behind me. I frowned.

"Are you a Mediator, too?"

He shook his head," son of Hades. My name's Nico."

"O-kay, then. I'm Suze."

"I know."

Man, this kid creeped me out. Then again, that might have something to do wth the whole son of the god of the underworld thing. It's possible.

Percy caught sight of Nico" hey, good to see you. We're gonna nee dall the help we can get."

"You don't know the half of it." Nico commented. Percy looked confused.

"There's a ton of ghosts." I explained.

Percy's eyes widened," There is? really?"

"yeah."

Jesslyn cut in, snorting," This is gonna be a piece of cake."

At least ten fellow campers turned to glare at her, but no one got the chance to sya anything becuase, at that moment, the army was upon us. Well, no backing out now.

**Yes, I'm evil and mean and stuff for just dropping that ciffy. But you gotta admit, totally perfect place to stop and all. Well, I've noticed that, despite my begging, not one of you have voted on my poll. So, for those wonderful, beloved few of you that do that heavenly thing called reviewing, I'm putting some of my fave choices here for you to put in your opinion on:**

**NCIS, Warehouse 13, Maximum Ride, Pendragon, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. whatcha think?**


	6. Aftermath

**I am so sorry. I promise, i couldn't feel guiltier if I tried. But there's been finals and trips, and my best friend's dogs died (RIP, Blade and Wishy), and...yeah. School's over, so updates should improve...hopefully.**

And the fighting commenced.

A few sword-wielding ghosts came rushing at me. I had to duck quickly to avoid the blade one attempted to slice my arm off with. Geeze.

I hadn't gotten a ton of practice with sword fighting, but some of my natural fighting instinct kicked in, and I actually started doing pretty good. Or, at least, I managed not to get killed within the first five minutes,which is always a plus in my book.

Though, in those five minutes, I did get myself rounded into a circle, fighting four ghosts. Really, I think I would have totally won, exept for one thing. See, when I get killed, I'm dead. they get stabbed or decapitated, all they have to do is wait a few minutes for it to all spring back into place. Lovely. Have I mentioned that we're at a _slight_ disadvantage here?

Still, I didn't have much of a choice, they were closing in on me fast. I swung at one and, as my sword connected with his side, he- vanished. whoa. I'd never had that happen have been pretty handy in the past, now that I think about it. It totally threw me off, but I didn't have long to freak out over it, because there was still plently more ghosts to fight.

So, for the next couple hours or so, that's what I did. Fought ghosts, I mean. I was lucky, they wern't particularly skilled, and plently more did that poofing thing. Still, there was couple really close calls, and I didn't make out of the battle unscathed. I did, however, make it out _alive_, which was pretty nice.

I swung my sword at one of the few remaining enemies, only barely warding off his attempt to decapitate me. I was getting seriously tired, and my fighting was definitly suffering because of that. Good thing we were down to just a few dead guys.

I thrust my sword at the ghost, and it went right through his chest. An instant later, there was nothing there. The shock of this had worn off after the first few times, and I didn't even blink as I swung around to find someone else to impale. and came face-to-face with Nicki.

"Hi." she said.

"Hey." I took a deep breathe. By now, I was having trouble even holding up the sword. I glanced around,"any ghosts left?"

"No, I think we're done- about time, too."

"Agreed."

I relaxed a little," All the monsters taken care of, too?"

"Yup. You okay?"

"Not bad, you?"

"Eh, I've had worse."

"We should probably see if Kiley is okay. She can barely even hold that sword up straight."

"Good point, let's see if we can find her."

It took us a few minutes, but we managed to locate Kiley, who was standing at the edge of the battlefield, covered in dust from head to toe, but looking otherwise unhurt.

Nicki reached her first,"Hey, we were worried about ya."

"I-I'm okay, luckily. You guys alright?"

"We're good." I replied quickly.

I was going to say more, but I was interrupted by Chiron, who called out across the camp. I swear, everybody within a two mile radius probably heard him.

"Any campers that need healing, please gather at the Big House. All others, please return to your cabins and rest until tonight. I'm proud of how well everybody did!"

No one had the energy to cheer or do any victory dancing, so we all calmly divided up and headed to seperate destinations.

I sighed and collapsed on my bunk. It probably wasn't the smartest desicion in my life, conisdering I was covered in grime, but I so couldn't care less. Everyone else seemed to share my opinion, exept Jesslyn. Of course. I was really wishing she'd been eaten by a hellhound.

Or worse.

"That was great!" She exclaimed, walking into the cabin.

The only response she got was three simultaneous groans.

"Oh, come on! You guys really need to toughen up!"

"Or maybe you need to shut your face." Nicki snarled.

"Aw, what's the matter? Disappointed your friend missed out on the fight?"

"You just can't shut up about my friend. Maybe becuase you don't _have_ any!"

"I-"

"Both of you, stop it." Kiley snapped suddenly. The rest of us were too shocked that she'd actually spoken up to say anything."All you two do is bicker! Can't anyone ever think of the bigger picture here?"

"Uh...sorry." Nicki said softly, after a long, akward moment of silence.

Jesslyn opened her mouth, more than likely to make some condescending remark, then closed it again.

"Alright, glad that's settled." Kiley said finally. We all nodded.

"Do you think most of the injured have been taken care of?" Nicki asked me.

"Probably. Why?"

"Well, I need to talk to Chiron, and I figured it'd be agood idea to see if Percy and Annabeth are okay, too."

I frowned," Talk to Chiron? Why? I mean, he's gotta have a lot to do and all."

"You'll see."

Jesslyn snorted," Vauge much?"

"Oh, totally. It's part of my charm."

Jesslyn snorted again, but said nothing. Thank god. Or, um, gods. Whatever.

"It's been awhile, he shouldn't be too busy- and now that you mention it, checking on the others sounds like a good idea." I said,"Mind if I come?"

"I was hoping you would."

"Great. Now I just have to work up the willpower to get off this bed."

Nicki laughed,"That sounds very challenging."

"It _is_."

She laughed again, then jumped down fro her bunk and held out her hand," here."

I took it and stood up, none too gracefully. I dragged my feet as we walked out of the cabin, but Nicki seemed full of energy.

"Geeze, how are you not exhausted?" I asked.

"I'm always wired after doing things like fighting. Erin's the same way."

She stopped talking rather abruptly and started staring at the ground as she walked. I decided not to ask any more questions. We headed toward the Athena cabin, where Annabeth would mostly likely be. I was hoping she could tell us if the others were okay.

I stuck my head in the cabin, where there were several various people of various ages doing various activities- though the most popular seemed to be sleeping. I scanned the room and found Annabeth talking to someone quietly in a corner. I started toward her, Nicki at my heels.

"Hey." Annabeth spotted us before we got to her," Good to see you guys."

"You too. We just wanted to know if everyone was alright." Nicki said.

Annabeth smiled,"I think everyone's good."

"Have you seen Percy and Grover?"

"Oh, yeah, I have. they're good, too. I-" Annabeth broke off as another camper walked up to her , whispering urgently.

Annabeth glanced at us," Sorry, gotta go. I'll see you guys later, okay?"

"No problem, I need to go see Chiron anyway."

Annabeth looked confused,"Chiron?"

"Yeah, I'll explain later." Nicki took my hand and started to pull me toward the door.

I frowned, but let her pull me. Obviously, the girl was in a hurry. For about the billionth time, I wondered what she was going to say to Chiron.

Her pace only increased when the big house came into view.

"Oky, geeze, no hurry." I commented when she started practically running.

"Wrong. There _is_ a hurry." She said firmly.

I decided it might be in my own best interest to just stay quiet.

Nicki made an abrupt stop in front of the Big House, her calm demeanor dissolving. Actually, she looked kinda scared.

"Uh, you okay?" I asked uncertainly. Whatever she'd come here to say must be really important.

"Me? I'm fine. Just, you know..nervous."

"I can tell."

She opened the door," I figure he'll be in the infirmary. You know, with the injured campers."

"Okay, makes sense."

So that's where we headed. The first thing I saw when we walked in the room was Erin, still way completely motionless, no change at all. Nicki followed my gaze and winced. We stood in silence for a few moments, until we heard someone come up behind us.

"Can I help you girls?" Chiron asked.

"Actually, yes." Nicki sounded a lot more confident then she looked," I need to discuss an important matter with you."

"and what would that be?"

"I want a quest."

Quotey time:(see if you can tell me where i got these)

"It's a magic gourd"

"I wear the cheese, it does not wear me."

"Oi, don't get clever in Latin."


	7. of quests and outfits

_"I want a quest"_

Okay, I haven't been at Camp Half-Blood very long, and there's plenty of things I still know nothing about, but I knew plenty about quests. After all, Percy, Annabeth and Grover were practically famous for the quests they'd been on.

I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting Nicki to say as we stood in that room, but it sure hadn't been that.

"What?" I spluttered, but Niki ignored me.

Chiron looked suprised as well, "A quest? Really?"

"Yes. A quest to help Erin."

"Go on."

"Well, she needs medical attention. Badly- and the camp would certainly benefit from getting it's fifth mediator back, and- and, well...I've got to do something."

"What you said is true, but what do you plan on doing, exactly?"

"Well, since we're legal citizens and all, then in normal cirrcumstances, we could simply go to a hospital in New York, tell them who we are and that she fell, and get help. Unfortunately, that would would bring of questions about our parents, an dd so on and so on. Not to mention, monsters won't be attracted to us like they are to demigods, so Kronos's people shouldn't know we;ve left camp- unless we go flaunting our location. So, I propose this- I'll take jesslyn with me- since she's technically an adult- and we can take Erin into New York, try to find some ally or somewhere there isn't a lot of people, and then call 911 and say we found her unconsious. They can help her, and we'll sneak out as soon as we can."

There was a few heartbeats of silence before Chiron said,"It just might is, however, a problem."

"A problem?"

"Yes. What will we do without you two as mediators? What if we are attacked again?"

"Oh, I've already thought of that."

"You have?"

"You see, that's why I chose now to ask for the quest. They just threw about everything they had at us. That army was _huge_. It'll take them time to regroup and put together more forces to throw at us. At least enough time for us to get back, with five mediators instead of four."

"That is actually a very good point."

Nicki beamed,"Thank you."

"You know," I put in,"I lived in New York for like sixteen years."

"You did? that's great!" Nicki exclaimed,"Would you come with us?"

Before I could answer, Chiron broke in, warning Nicki to keep her voice down. That was the first time I realized it wasn't just Nicki, chiron, Erin and me in that infirmary. Looking around, I saw several demigods with injuries varying in severity. Not that we had to worry about them listening in. From what I could tell, every one of them was asleep- or unconsious.

I dropped my voice to a whisper," Uh, sure, I'll go with you."

Chiron frowned," Three of you gone?"

"Yeah, but my logic still stands," Nicki pointed out immediatly," The camp will still have one mediator, and you probably won't need her at all."

"All right, then. You have your quest."

"Thank you!" Nicki kept her voice low but exuberant," When can we leave?"

"I suppose the sooner the better- tomorrow morning."

"That's great."

"Which means you'll need to consult the oracle right away."

Nicki paled. I'm not kidding, she looked like she was gonna be sick.

"The oracle?"

"Yes. Go explain the quest to Jesslyn, be sure she'll come with you, then come back and go to the attic to consult the oracle."

"Oh, um, sure. Okay." she turned to me,"Coming?"

"Yeah."

We walked back to our cabin, Nicki's face slowly regaining it's color the whole time.

I frowned,"Are you scared of the oracle or something?"

"Well, the idea of being spoken to by a dead body while in a dark attic creeps me out in general, but..."

"But?"

"But I'm also scared of...of what it might say. I mean, what if the thing tell me we won't succeed? That Erin'll die?"

"It would probaby be a good idea to _not_ dwell on that."

"Yeah, it would. But I won't stop feeling nervous until it's all over with."

"Then let's get it started with." I grinned and walked into our cabin, were Kiley and Jesslyn were sitting on their bunks, exactly as we'd left them.

"So, Jesslyn, fancy a trip to New York?" I asked casually, before Nicki even had a chance to open her mouth.

Jesslyn stared at me for a moment."Are you serious?"

"Oh, completely."

"What's the catch?"

"Well, we're sort of going on the trip as a quest-"

"A _quest_?"

"Yeah, now don't interupt. We'll tell you the whole plan if you decide to go, but basically it'll be to a new York hospital to help save Erin. You need to be with us when we take her in, since you're a technical adult and all, but after that you can do whatever as long as you stay close enough for us to find you and get out when or if we need to. Deal?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Anything to get out for awhile."

"Great." Nicki said,"So, here's how it'll go..."

She continued to explain the plan in detail. It wasn't long before I tuned out and statred thinking about what to wear and bring. You know, that kind of stuff. It didn't take me too long to realize something wierd- Kiley wasn't in the cabin.

I mean, it's not like she wasn't totally free to go out and walk around, but she hardly ever did. Besides, I couldn't imagine that she wasn't exhausted after that fight. _I'm being ridiculous_, I realized. There was no reason to be suspicious of Kiley. Right?Or course not, she couldn't hurt a fly.

"I hate to admit, but that might actually work." Jesslyn was saying,"but how will we get Erin to New York?"

"I was going to ask Chiron if we could borrow some Pegasi from the stables. It could be a way of getting there and a useful way to get a bird's eye view."

"I suppose so. When are we leaving, anyway?"

"Tomorrow, if nothing goes wrong."

"Tomorrow? That barely gives me anytime to decide what to wear! ow long are you planning on being there, anyway?"

"It really all depends on how long the medical stuff takes, there's no way to tell when we'll be able to get Erin out of there."

"Well, I've got stuff to do and you have an oracle to meet."

Nicki cringed, but nodded and headed out of the cabin. I turned to Jesslyn.

"Hey, where'd Kiley go?"

"Oh, I don't know. She walked out not too long before you and Nicki came in. What's it to you?"

"Oh, nothing. She just dosen't take off very often. I'm gonna see if I can find her."

"Yeah, well, I'm dedicating every waking moment until we leave to my wardrobe."

"Uh-huh, good luck with that." Jesslyn was so distracted with her duffle bags that she didn't even bother coming up with any witty comments.

I walked out of the cabin and headed towrad the woods, just a bit concerned. But it wasn't five seconds before I spotted Kiley walking toward me. I hurried over to her.

"Hey, where've you been?"

"That...that battle really freaked me out. I just needed to get away from everyone for a minute, try to relax. Sorry...sorry if I scared you or anything." she really did look freaked

"Oh, no, that's okay. I was just wondering."

"Did I miss anything?"

"A ton. Nicki's got a quest."

"She _what_?"

"I'll see..."

So we talked until dinner, and kept talking as we sat down at the mediator table with Nicki, who looked shaken. I made a mental note to ask her how it went with the oracle.

We were just getting in line to sacrifice a piece of our food to te gods when Jesslyn came running up to join us. It was pretty obvious why she was late from just looking at her. Kiley and I's conversation died instantly.

Jesslyn was standing there, and she was most definitly _not_ wearing her usual camp Half-Blood shirt and jeans. Not even fricking close. Instead, for some inconcievable reason, she'd dressed up in a short, strapless black dress. She was wearing an assortment of black jewelry with it, and boots. Black ones, of course.

I guess it wasn't tat bad of an outfit, but she looked ridiculous, standing there amongst the dirty, tattered campers in what was practically punk evening wear. I mean, if you ask me at least. Completely ridiculous. I actually let out a giggle.

Jesslyn shot me a sour look,"Problem?"

"Oh, no. No probem at all. Not a one."

She glared at me some more, but seemed unable to find anything to accuse me of.

"Um, if I may ask- what the _hell_ are you wearing that for?" Nicki questioned. My setiment exactly, thank you.

"Well, after what we did, I saw the need for celebration."

"You call that celebrating?"

"Don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I-"

At that point I decided it would be smart to intervene,"Why don't we sit down now?"

So we all sat at our table, and let me tell you, it was akward. None of us knew what to say- well, actually, I'm sure Nicki had plenty to say, but she'd seen the wisdom in keeping quiet. Not to mention, there wasn't exactly a ot of chatter going on at the other tables, and several people were continously shooting glances at Jesslyn. It was torture.

I was so relieved when it was over that I think I almost collapsed. Or maybe that was the exhaustion. Oh, who cared? I was just glad to change intoa t-shirt and boxers, and flop down onto my bunk across from Kiley, who was already sleeping soundly.

Despite how tired I was- and, believe me, I was _tired_- i spent a long time staring at nothing, wondering, and fearing, what tomorrow would bring. Eventually,though, fatigue won out over even that and I fell into a restless sleep.

Quote! see if you can tell me where I got it:

"Gotta dash, things happenning- well, four things-well, four things and a lizard."

My sister: Last time I saw your school, it was covered in police tape!

Me(looking at y Mom's facebook page): Geeze, I didn't know you had fifty-five friends

Mom: Well, I do.

me: are fifty of them people you don't know?

Mom: probably

**and so here we are! A much earlier update tan the last, thnak you, and I really didnt think it was that bad. Though, to my dissipointment, no one tried to guess the origin of my last quotes. Oh, well, try this one. Here we are, about to begin the quest. Epic, am I right? Please, oh PLEASE, review! I got one review- yeah, one- last chapter, and I'm much dissheartened. *sob* see? oh,a nd I've been messing around on Polyvore and I've gathered the outfit that jesslyn was wearing. here's the link:**

**.com/cgi/set?id=19827927**


	8. Starting a quest is hard

The world was dark. And cold.

I could hear laughter. Laughter? Why would anyone be laughing in _this_ terrible place? I followed the laughter, determined to find the source.

But there were tunnels, curving and winding out of sight. I started getting scared. How would I ever find my way out? i would be stuck in the dark forever. I started to panic- not something I do very often. I yelled and started running, faster and faster. Then, suddenly, I was falling. There was a face, a face I vaugely recognized. I should know that face...but it was gone. Other faces flashed, and the laughing it never stopped. Falling...just falling.

"Suze, wake up. Come on, we have to hurry! _Suze_!" It was Nicki's voice.

The darkness was gone suddenly,"I...what's going on?"

Nicki stood there, fully-dressed, holding a backpack,"Hello, quest?"

"Oh! Sorry, I'll be ready in a second." Which, considering how long it normally took me to get dressed, was one serious understatement.

Still, considering the situation, I managed to be outside the cabin and ready to go after only ten minutes. A record for me, I do believe.

Even with that record timing, Nicki and Jesslyn were waiting outside for me, looking a little impatient.

"Hey, I'm ready to leave."

"About time." Jesslyn snorted.

"Whatever, let's go."

We headed toward the stables, where three pegasi were supposed to be waiting.

"You know, you were mumbling in your sleep." Nicki said to me as we neared the stable.

"I did?Well, I was sort of having a nightmare."

Nicki's eyes widened, and she said something under her breathe. It was mostly inaudible, but I caught the word "midnight".

"Uh, what was that?"

"Oh, ,if you don't mind me asking, what exactly was your nightmare about?"

I shrugged,"Not was really dark, and there was sounded familiar, but I couldn't really figure out why...any particular reason you want to know?"

"You know, dreams people have at Camp half-Blood are rarely just dreams- especially if those people happen to be embarking on a quest."

"That's a good point.I'll let you know if I remember anything else about it."

It was then that we made it to the stables, where three beautiful, fully-tacked pegasi stood. I'd rode them several times by then, but just standing there looking at them made me feel kind of awed.

I shook my head to clear it, then walked up to the pegasus I'd be riding, a chesnut named Stardancer.I'd ridden him in every lesson, and I was actually pretty comfortable with 't get me wrong, flying had been completely terrifying at first, but getting used to it hadn't been nearly as hard as I had orginally thought it would , once 'd gotten past being scared stiff, it'd been pretty fun.

When Percy had heard that our quest would require pegasi, he had offered to let Nicki ride Blackjack, whom he'd said was perfectly willing to help. I'd heard the story of how Percy had rescued Blackjack _twice_ on our way here from Carmel, and I thought it was a great idea.

The three of us walked our horses through camp to the Big House, where we would get Erin, who was riding with Nicki. from there, we had decided to fly to a remote place in Central Park. and call an ambulence reporting that our friend had just tried to climb a tree, but fell and got knocked first, we had just been going to say we had found her like that, a total stranger, but then we wouldn't have been able to ride in the ambulence with her or visit the hospital, so that plan was out.

Chiron stood with Erin in his arms, waiting for in poistion, we ll mounted the pegasi, Chiron helping Nicki get Erin on in front of her- that was why she got Blackjack, because he had to ride and keep Erin from falling off at the same time.

As soon as Nicki was in position,Chiron handed Erin, who still showed no signs of being even had to set her down in front of her and lean her precariously against was going to be hard for her to fly, but still better than any other options we'd come up with.

Then, as soon as that was taken care of, we took off.

As usual,I spent the first five seconds being ,as we soarded higher and I felt the familiarity of having flown,like,twenty times felt really good once I got past the terror was quiet and the air blowing around me felt good.I almost didn't care that it was completely ruining my hair-almost.

We flew past the camp and over New York at alarming wasn't long before we were circling Central Park,figuring out the best sopt to land was still pretty early and a Monday,so it didn't take us too long to find a relatively secluded spot.

Once we were off,the pegasi flew 'd taken a few drachmas,to send messages when they were ready to go back or in case of part of the plan had been my idea.I was rather proud of it.

After sending off the pagasi-I heard Nicki give Blackjack a special "Thank you"-we started didn't get far,though,becuase there was an elderly lady standing near the tree where we'd landed,looking quite suprised.

"You're demigods."she stated.

"Huh? What? Oh, no...uh, what's a demigod?" I babbled. Brillinat, Suze. Real convincing.

Jesslyn was slightly better with the acting. She smiled innocently.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about. If you don't mind, we really need to get going." She tugged my should rather forcefully and started to move away. Nicki scrambled quickly after us. She looked slightly creeped out by the lady.

The old lady followed us. She was really starting to creep me out, too. "No, it's okay. My daughter's a demigod-rather, was a demigod."

Jesslyn didn't even falter. "Well, that's very nice, but we really do have to be going."

I tried to wrench my arm from Jesslyn's grip, but she held tight, so I dug my heels into the ground and hissed, "If she knows about demigods, then shouldnt we at least listen to her? She could actually be helpful- I mean, our rescue plan isn't exactly solid."

Jesslyn rolled her eyes ,"Are you kidding? What are the chances that just the right person would be standing here, waiting for us to land? It's obviously a trap."

I blinked. To be honest, I hadn't really thought of that.

Nicki looked thoughtful ,"I don't know, maybe we should listen her."

"Are you crazy or something?"

"Seriously, just trust me- we should. besides, Suze has a point. Our plan isn't perfect, or really even existant."

Jesslyn groaned, "All right, fine. But if- I mean, when- this backfires, you take full responsibility." With that rather scathing remark made, she jerked me around and hauled me back to where the woman stood patiently. Nicki followed close behind, looking anxious.

**Well, there you go. It's not great, but it's there. Whatcha think? I apparantly have a lot of fans for this story- not sure why...but, all you people who have been favoriting the story and whatnot, let me know what you think. Oh, and if I keep doing the notupdate thing, feel free to send me a message and complain your butt off. It might motivate -or guilt- me into writing.**


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